Top Row: Kristen McLeod, Blair Fose Bottom Row: Jamie Friderichs, Michelle Gean, Madeline Hazle

After a fantastic summer of fast swimming and good times, Blue Tide is ready to start their short course season in early October.

At the Texas Age Group State meet (TAGS) our group of four 10 & Under girls finished 3rd as a team!  Huge congratulations for Stephanie Fose, Emily Bocock, Ashley Pollok, and Courtney Bocock.

These ladies finished fourth in the 200 and 400 free relay, and were the runners up for the 200 medley relay!

Emily Bocock was an event winner in the 50 breaststroke and earlier in the year set a BTA team record.  Way to go Emily!  She also finished 4th in the 50 free, 8th in the 100 free, and 5th in the 100 breast.

Ashley Pollock had some great swims at the meet finishing 3rd in the 100 breast and 5th in the 50 breast.

Stephanie Fose was also a top eight finalist, finishing 3rd in the 50 back and 7th in the 100 back.

For the 10 & under boys Garret Marshall, Hunter Trambaugh, Bora Unalmis, and Joshua Umrysh racked up the points for BTA finishing 8th as a team.

The boys were 7th in the 200 free relay, 6th in the 400 free relay, and 4th in the 200 medley relay. 

Joshua Umrysh was the big winner in his signature stroke, placing 4th in the 50 breast.

Competing at the same time as our TAGS qualifiers was an elite group of swimmers who traveled to Orlando, Florida to compete in the Southern Zones Championship meet.  These swimmers were selected out of the entire area to represent GULF swimming.  It is one of the highest quality meets available to swimmers from 11 to 18 years old.

Blue Tide medalists include Madeline Hazle who came home to Kingwood with the most medals.  She finished 2nd in the 400 IM, 3rd in the 200 free, 4th in the 400 free and 200 back, and 7th in the 200 fly.  Her greatest achievement of the meet was winning the 200 IM with a meet record of 2:21.71 which is also national time standard!

Michelle Gean also had a fantastic meet finishing 3rd in the 200 IM and 5th in the 100 free.  She had another 3rd place finish in the 100 breast also earning a national cut!  Way to go Michelle!

Blair Fose came home from her first Zones meet with an 8th place medal in the 50 backstroke.

For the Open Water portion of the meet, the swimmers from Blue Tide created quite a wake!  Kristen McLeod finished 8th for the 11-12 year old girls and Blair Fose finished 6th.  For the 15 to 18 year old girls Michelle Gean finished 8th and Jamie Friderichs finished 2nd.  For the 15-18 year old boys Mitch Glander brought home some hard ware for his 6th place finish.

Other participants at the meet this year include Layne Frey, Matt Parel, Jordan Umrysh, Grant Hazle, Thomas Corey, Patrick Pash, Reed Dalton, and Will Oswald.

At the US Open held in Federal Way, Washington Blue Tide was represented by Ben Decker who finished 14th in the 200 breast and 23rd in the 100 breast.

Next up for the Tide was Junior Nationals, also in Federal Way.  Participants include Madeline Hazle, Jill Vitarius, Ashley Vance, Matt Barber, Austin Wilson, Ryan Glander, and Jordan Jones.

Jill Vitarius continued her stand as one of the premier up and coming backstrokers in the United States with her 9th place finish in the 200 back and 11th place finish in the 100 back.

The relay team of Wilson, Barber, Glander, and Jones had two finishes in the top 16 at this high caliber meet, way to go guys!

At this time Matt Barber has qualified himself for a second stint on the US National Junior team traveling to Europe this November, keep an eye out for more news on this huge honor!

Also a hearty congrats to Jordan Jones and Madeline Hazle for being named to the National Select Team, traveling to Colorado Springs for a training camp in October.  They are two of only 60 swimmers chosen from across the United States.